There are currently available several different methods and machines for cleaning carpet. However, each approach heretofore available has several shortcomings associated therewith, one of which is saturation. When a carpet is saturated with water or a cleaning agent, not only must the carpet remain unused for an extended drying period, but the glue which secures the carpet fibers to the carpet backing and which joins adjacent carpet sections often deteriorates, releasing the carpet fibers from the backing and separating carpet sections along the seams therebetween. While damage to the carpet resulting from the breakdown of the adhesive quality of the glue therein is certainly a problem of grave concern, the period during which the saturated carpet is drying and cannot be used is now being recognized in certain areas as a problem of even greater economic concern. When the carpet in an airplane is saturated as a result of the cleaning of the carpet therein, that plane cannot be used to transport passengers. Even with the use of drying equipment, the carpet often takes up to 12 hours to dry resulting in an extensive downtime for the plane and a corresponding loss of income. Similarly, it would often be desirable to clean carpet in public places such as theaters and museums without having to close such places to traffic. To reduce this down or closed period, it is necessary to eliminate the saturation of the carpet during a cleaning process.
A common method of cleaning carpets is that of steam cleaning. In a steam cleaning operation, water of 160.degree.-180.degree. F is forced into the carpet down into the padding and subsequently drawn out. During such a process, the carpet is completely saturated and the drawing out of some of the water often pulls the brown padding back through the pile leaving small spots as it passes up through the carpeting. Thus, steam cleaning has the disadvantage of saturation as well as carpet spotting. Attempts have been made to avoid carpet saturation with the advent of dry cleaning and the use of dry foam. In the dry cleaning operation, an absorbant material such as sawdust is soaked in a cleaning agent and distributed over the carpet. The material is then brushed into the carpet, spreading the cleaning agent and absorbing some of the dirt and other foreign matter on the carpet fibers. The sawdust is then removed by vacuuming. This method of carpet cleaning, however, generally does not provide a thorough cleaning of the carpet and invariably some of the absorbant material is left behind on the carpet. As soon as the carpet is then subjected to traffic, this material with its absorbed dirt and foreign matter is ground back into the carpet, soiling the same.
In a dry foam operation, a foam cleaning agent is desposited on the carpet, worked into the carpet with brushes and then vacuumed and allowed to dry. This method of carpet cleaning, however, cannot provide an adequate sitting time during which the cleaning agent can chemically interact with the dirt on the carpet fibers as the foam will lie atop the carpet fibers prior to brushing the foam into the carpet, and so much of the dirt is left in the carpet after and vacuuming. Applicant's method and apparatus for cleaning carpet avoids the saturation problem with which the foaming method is concerned, yet allows the cleaning agent to encapsulate the fibers and chemically interact with the foreign material thereon thereby thoroughly cleaning the carpet with a minimum of downtime.